Stipe’s opponents

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Chalky White

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I’ve seen some of these arguments in Stipe vs. Fedor threads, but I’m just wondering what the consensus is here.

How many of Stipe’s opponents in the UFC would you consider “in their prime” when he fought them? I realize it’s somewhat subjective and people like to cherry-pick out of bias, but answer as best as you can.
 
Tough to really say who’s was “prime” but as harsh as I am on Stipe, he had a great career. He could retire today and he would be one of the best heavyweights ever. Do I think he’s as accomplished as Fedor? Fuck no, but it doesn’t mean his career was shit.
 
Prime discussions are super tough, especially here, with the way the HW divisions are. I feel like Stipe was probably in his "prime" when he lost to JDS, which was an era when many other HW fighters were in their prime. But those same fighters fell into their twilight years earlier than Stipe, so he was really at the right place at the right time when he was champ.

But I'll be the first to recognize too that this is all weird hypothetical stuff. Reality is that we'll never know, no matter how much we like to talk about it.
 
I think Stipe gets remembered as one of the HW greats, particularly in UFC-focused conversations.

I'm not going to hold it against him if he came at a time when the old guards were moving out, new ones coming in, and I think some of those caveats will fade over time as memories become more broad- stroke and less detailed.
 
Stipe's title run was fucking awesome.

Big names, exciting fights and pretty much all knockouts.

What's not to like?
Sad that there is so much hater culture that people can't just enjoy great fights.


At the end of the day all a fighter can do is beat the guys across from him, and Stipe did that.
 
Chalky White said:
I’ve seen some of these arguments in Stipe vs. Fedor threads, but I’m just wondering what the consensus is here.

How many of Stipe’s opponents in the UFC would you consider “in their prime” when he fought them? I realize it’s somewhat subjective and people like to cherry-pick out of bias, but answer as best as you can.
Click to expand...
I covered this topic back in 2020:

acannxr said:
I'm only listing Top 15 opponents (based on FightMatrix rankings); if I'd only listed Top 10 opponents, Miocic's resume would have two less fighters and I wanted their total fights to be comparable.

From the first year a fighter entered the Top 15 to the last year will determine the "total", depending on which year a fight took place, that will create a percentage.

For example: Semmy Schilt entered the Top 15 in 1998 and his last year in the Top 15 was 2004, which is a 7 year/unit total; Emelianenko and Schilt fought in the 5th year/unit, which results in the Schilt fight as 71.4%; all the percentages will be averaged out and the lowest average wins.
Click to expand...
Wr1VVDg.jpg

acannxr said:
What do the percentages mean? If a fight received a 50%, that means said fighter was at the center point of the total time they'd spend (or have spent) in the Top 15 ranks.

Emelianenko wins under this particular criteria with a 50% average, winning by a margin of 20%. Additionally, there are some fighters such as Nogueira, Hunt, Arlovski, and CroCop who managed to remain or re-enter the Top 15 ranks roughly ten years after their fights against Emelianenko, which either speaks to how talented they are or how the division itself has declined (or both).

If you want to ignore the percentages, it's still a nice visual representation of what point a fighter was at in their career when they fought Emelianenko and/or Miocic.
Click to expand...
TLDR: Fedor's top 15 ranked opponents on average were 50% into their prime, while Miocic's opponents were 70% into their prime (with prime being defined as the range of the first year they entered the top 15 ranks to the last year).

Original thread:
https://forums.sherdog.com/threads/resumes-fedor-emelianenko-vs-stipe-miocic.4150379/
 
Last edited:
Hard to say, Stipe hasn't had an easy fight in a long time but it does seem most of his wins against good/great fighters, those fighters were on the downslope of their careers.

In Stipe's case it seriously seems like the X-factor in a lot of the fights is durability. His loss to Struve notwithstanding (he slipped on a logo, got caught and never recovered) in a lot of his big wins he relied on his chin to take hard shots and then impose his will against guys with either an inferior chin (JDS 2, Arlovski, Overeem, Werdum, Gonzaga, etc) or inferior skills (Ngannou 1, Hunt, Nelson, DC's boxing, etc).

In his first fight with JDS, that was a firefight and both guys chins held up. It just so happened that JDS was the more varied/effective striker at that point in their careers.

His first fight with DC showed the chin was not what it once was though he did get caught with a shot he didn't see coming. The 2nd fight with Ngannou also showed the chin wasn't what it once was though I'll give him credit for getting up from an Ngannou knockdown, something very few have done.

Anyway, MMA is very unforgiving for guys in their 30s who have a lot of wear and tear.
 
I mean, you can't fight people who aren't there. He fought every top HW in the UFC. There's no one you could name that we didn't get to see who was available. Most title defenses and wins over Hunt, Werdum, Overeem, JDS, Ngannou and DC. He's the best UFC HW ever.
 
Stipe fought and beat better opponents.

DC, Werdum, Ngannou, JDS, and Overeem are better than anyone on Fedor's resume.

Quibbling about the timing of their opponents' primes is pointless in the face of such a disparity in win quality between Stipe and Fedor.
 
Schoolboy Q said:
Tough to really say who’s was “prime” but as harsh as I am on Stipe, he had a great career. He could retire today and he would be one of the best heavyweights ever. Do I think he’s as accomplished as Fedor? Fuck no, but it doesn’t mean his career was shit.
Click to expand...


Francis, JDS, and Dc violate everyonee Fedor ever beat...as well as Fedor himself


Werdum already embarrassed Fedor.


4 victories over guys who would beat "prime" Fedor


Overeem peobly beats him too btw...so 5 lol
 
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